An Israeli Security Expert On What A Ridiculous Clown Carnival Our TSA Is
Robert Evans and Rafi Sela write at Cracked:
For a bunch of people in snappy uniforms patting down crotches, the TSA is remarkably unpopular. Nobody likes going through security at the airport, but you probably figured most of it had a point. All those hours spent in line with other shoeless travelers are a necessary precursor to safe flying. It's annoying, but at least it wards off terrorism.That's all bullshit. The TSA couldn't protect you from a 6-year-old with a water balloon. What are my qualifications for saying that? My name is Rafi Sela, and I was the head of security for the world's safest airport. Here's what your country does wrong.
He gives seven examples -- some of which echo what I've been saying, like about the idiocy and waste of considering every single person who flies a plausible suspect.
#5. They Spend All Their Energy on LuggageAbout 99.9 percent of travelers are just that: travelers. They want to get through security, buy a cup of coffee and some duty-free whiskey, then quietly drink and leech Wi-Fi from the airport McDonald's. These people pose no threat to anyone, and there's no point in even checking them. The very few terrorists that exist are like needles in a haystack. But the TSA's approach is to check every single piece of hay, in case it might actually be a needle.
But if you only check luggage and you don't check the person behind the luggage, how do you know he hasn't camouflaged something into the luggage that you can't find? Trust me: Hiding things is so easy to do, it isn't even funny. That's why the only luggage checks we do are to find things like aerosol cans, which might burst on their own. Otherwise, what we care about is intent.
I was at an airport in Newark once when a TSA search of my bags turned up a laser pointer pen I'd been given as a gift at a conference. They told me they had to confiscate it, because apparently laser pointers are just a couple-hundred degrees away from being the new box cutters. Many of you have probably lost trinkets and gadgets in the same way: Would you like to know how to get them back?
I tell the handler, "OK, take it. But that pen is company property, so I'm going to need some sort of receipt."
He says, "What?"
"This pen isn't owned by me. My boss is going to need to see some proof that you took it."
So he calls a supervisor and asks, "Where do we keep the receipts?"
His supervisor says, "What the fuck are you talking about, we don't give receipts."
He explains the situation, and his boss asks, "What's the contraband?"
"A little laser pointer."
"Give it the fuck back! What do you care?"
Two seconds go by and he hands it back to me. It's as easy as that.
The TSA treats each traveler the same because of some stupid idea that everything needs to be fair. Security needs to be done due to risk -- and risk means that in Israel we don't check luggage, we check people. And I'm not talking about racial profiling here; that's a product of poor training. Regardless of race or creed, people with bombs strapped to their body behave in similar ways. The TSA claims that finding IEDs at the checkpoint is their number one goal. But it's the people who mean us harm that we should look out for. Instead of checking intent, they check luggage.
And they don't even do it well: I have orthopedic insoles in my shoes made from composite material. On the machines, that composite looks identical to plastic explosives. I put them on the belt every time, and no one -- NO ONE -- ever questions my shoes. Some security experts suspect that the TSA has never once caught a terrorist at a checkpoint. And we know that at least 16 of them have flown into U.S. airports since 2004.
Meanwhile, Israel's airport security actually has stopped a bomb from getting on a plane using Israeli screening techniques.
He explains the techniques in the rest of the piece.
"...the TSA has never once caught a terrorist at a checkpoint. And we know that at least 16 of them have flown into U.S. airports since 2004."
Presumably none of them flew in on planes that flew out of Israeli airports?
Ken R at December 22, 2013 1:38 AM
Note also this little, minor detail: He claims 25 minutes from getting out of your car to arriving at your gate. US airports used to be that efficient. Since TSA exists, we waste lifetimes of time because of security theater.
a_random_guy at December 22, 2013 2:29 AM
"OK, take it. But that pen is company property, so I'm going to need some sort of receipt."
I'll have to remember that.
Also, if I wanted to get an IED on a plane, I'd either bribe or blackmail a TSA agent to get it thru via back channels.
I R A Darth Aggie at December 22, 2013 6:39 AM
#7. The TSA Is Supposed to Regulate Itself
They were handed an incredible amount of opportunity to hire good people and build a system that is efficient and realizes that they can discourage and stop 99% of the typical bombers.
That the TSA misused it was not unexpected because they didn't talk to anyone who did it before.
The threat of another hijacking attempt ended on 9/11 with Flight 93. It will never happen again.
#1. We Don't Think Our Airports Through and #3. "Security" Happens in One Place are sort of redundant.
But as it stands, many airports are now the perfect design for a coordinated suicide attack on the ground. Yes the thought of blowing a plane out of the sky with 107 souls on board probably gives the amateur terrorist a thrill down their leg.
The experienced terrorist is imagining having multiple panel vans loaded with explosives and shrapnel driving into a TSA checkpoints and detonating in the days before Christmas or Thanksgiving.
The lines on Friday and Saturday at the airports probably went to the front doors. How many would have died? And then add on top of it and pick the right airports at the right time and you will get numerous military. Fort Dix in New Jersey is primarily a training base. I'm sure the last day of training was Thursday this year. The Philly airport is about 45 minutes away. Take a guess where all the trainees were flying out of to go home for Christmas? And there are numerous other airports like that.
The TSA was never needed. They are totally ineffective and a waste of money on nothing.
Jim P. at December 22, 2013 8:28 AM
All pretty obvious too, the only one I'd give them a pass on is the airports were designed pre 9/11 so were designed with lots of artistic or political thoughts but not efficiency or security in mind. With the glacial and idiotic way our gov't does things it will be decades before any would change.
Problem 2 politicians weigh two factors, make the people safer or make them feel safer. In politics the answer would always be, feel safer, which is what they went towards. What's the difference, if you implement a new way of scanning for something do you hold a press conference about it giving every detail. If you care about being safer, of course you don't, terrorists will watch it and figure out ways around it.
If you care about feeling safe, of course you do. People don't feel safer unless you show them how thick the front door is and how fancy the lock is.
Joe J at December 22, 2013 8:41 AM
Cracked is a great source of reliable information. No, I'm not being sarcastic.
Sosij at December 22, 2013 1:13 PM
But... but... the TSA patdowns are constitutional ! And... and... we don't have ANY OTHER WAY to make America SAFE OMG!!11!!!
I'm not good at this. Cue the apologists.
Radwaste at December 22, 2013 1:22 PM
I can agree with that. At the same time many of them could have built "blast channel" structures that would help prevent or limit side damage.
If you ever get into any post 80's structure that has always had security viewpoint, you can see notice things that will channel damage but look totally image friendly.
Jim P. at December 22, 2013 2:32 PM
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